A masterful history of a long underappreciated institution, How the Post Office Created America examines the surprising role of the postal service in our nation’s political, social, economic, and physical development. 

The founders established the post office before they had even signed the Declaration of Independence, and for a very long time, it was the U.S. government’s largest and most important endeavor—indeed, it was the government for most citizens. This was no conventional mail network but the central nervous system of the new body politic, designed to bind thirteen quarrelsome colonies into the United States by delivering news about public affairs to every citizen—a radical idea that appalled Europe’s great powers. America’s uniquely democratic post powerfully shaped its lively, argumentative culture of uncensored ideas and opinions and made it the world’s information and communications superpower with astonishing speed. 

Winifred Gallagher presents the history of the post office as America’s own story, told from a fresh perspective over more than two centuries. The mandate to deliver the mail—then “the media”—imposed the federal footprint on vast, often contested parts of the continent and transformed a wilderness into a social landscape of post roads and villages centered on post offices. The post was the catalyst of the nation’s transportation grid, from the stagecoach lines to the airlines, and the lifeline of the great migration from the Atlantic to the Pacific. It enabled America to shift from an agrarian to an industrial economy and to develop the publishing industry, the consumer culture, and the political party system. Still one of the country’s two major civilian employers, the post was the first to hire women, African Americans, and other minorities for positions in public life. 

Starved by two world wars and the Great Depression, confronted with the country’s increasingly anti-institutional mind-set, and struggling with its doubled mail volume, the post stumbled badly in the turbulent 1960s. Distracted by the ensuing modernization of its traditional services, however, it failed to transition from paper mail to email, which prescient observers saw as its logical next step. Now the post office is at a crossroads. Before deciding its future, Americans should understand what this grand yet overlooked institution has accomplished since 1775 and consider what it should and could contribute in the twenty-first century.

Gallagher argues that now, more than ever before, the imperiled post office deserves this effort, because just as the founders anticipated, it created forward-looking, communication-oriented, idea-driven America.

The enemy may have changed, but the battle between good and evil burns hotter than ever in this scintillating new installment in Alexandra Ivy’s Guardians of Eternity series.
 
There is only one thing more precious to vampire Tarak than his newfound freedom after five centuries of captivity, and that’s the promise of revenge. At last, he can destroy Riven, the merman who has drained his power in order to make himself king. But at the very moment when justice is a fang’s breadth away, Tarak’s quest is complicated by the beautiful mermaid princess who kept him sane and fed during his ordeal.
 
Waverly hoped that once Tarak escaped, he’d return to his own kind and enjoy the rest of his immortal life. She also hoped she might one day stop dreaming about the darkly handsome vampire. Instead, Tarak’s return draws Waverly into an unlikely alliance—and a passion that eclipses all her fantasies.
 
Hatred for Riven has sustained Tarak this long. But only Waverly’s love can give him the strength to claim eternity with her . . .

In this madcap journey, a bestselling journalist investigates psychopaths and the industry of doctors, scientists, and everyone else who studies them.

The Psychopath Test is a fascinating journey through the minds of madness. Jon Ronson's exploration of a potential hoax being played on the world's top neurologists takes him, unexpectedly, into the heart of the madness industry. An influential psychologist who is convinced that many important CEOs and politicians are, in fact, psychopaths teaches Ronson how to spot these high-flying individuals by looking out for little telltale verbal and nonverbal clues. And so Ronson, armed with his new psychopath-spotting abilities, enters the corridors of power. He spends time with a death-squad leader institutionalized for mortgage fraud in Coxsackie, New York; a legendary CEO whose psychopathy has been speculated about in the press; and a patient in an asylum for the criminally insane who insists he's sane and certainly not a psychopath.

Ronson not only solves the mystery of the hoax but also discovers, disturbingly, that sometimes the personalities at the helm of the madness industry are, with their drives and obsessions, as mad in their own way as those they study. And that relatively ordinary people are, more and more, defined by their maddest edges.

A sinister illusionist wants Alice... and he won't take no for an answer.
Read the whole series with all the deleted content included!

As eager as Alice was to start her new job, she got far more than she bargained for when entering employment at Strande Estate.

Inexplicable noises.
Haunting legends.
A sexy-as-they-come amateur magician.
And…an enticingly wicked ghost.

Alice didn’t believe in anything paranormal when she arrived, but each day that passes leaves her questioning things she never thought she would—like whether or not her gorgeous boss was as magically gifted in the bedroom as he was at illusions.

But deep within the walls of the Strande manor, a malevolent spirit has taken a keen interest in the new caretaker. Thrilled to have a new plaything at his disposal, he has devilish games planned for the unsuspecting Alice. Will she make it out of the Strande Estate alive? Or be lured into the seductive darkness?

_____
Author’s Note:
The story of the Impossible Julian Strande is what I would call villain romance. The main male character is devilish. While there is a happily ever after for both characters at the end, it may be a darker journey to get there.

Some brides like it wilder...

A single lady of birth, beauty, and large fortune should not have this much trouble making a match. Yet after two failed betrothals, Lady Juliana Bernard is in a bind. She must find a husband at once or lose guardianship of her beloved niece. Her childhood friend the Duke of Blackmore is her last, best hope, but once she tracks him down in Scotland, she receives startling news.

First,the duke is already engaged. Second, it's his brother Logan's fault Juliana is now lacking a bridegroom. So, what's a lady to do when she's lost her betrothed?Marry his scandalous brother, the Laird of Clan Kinross.

Wooing does not go well at first. But just as Juliana begins to welcome the boisterous but tenderhearted Scot into her life (and her bed), secrets come between themonce more. And it will take a determined husband indeed to ensure that a marriage begun in haste leads not to heartache...but to love.

This third book in the Henrietta and Inspector Howard series provides a delightful romp through the English countryside and back.


Anxious to be married, Henrietta and Clive push forward with their wedding plans despite their family differences, made worse now by Oldrich Exley’s attempts to control the Von Harmons. When the long-awaited wedding day arrives, there is more unfolding than just Clive and Henrietta’s vows of love. Stanley and Elsie’s relationship is sorely tested by the presence of the dashing Lieutenant Harrison Barnes-Smith and by Henrietta’s friend Rose—a situation that grows increasingly dark and confused as time goes on.


As Clive and Henrietta begin their honeymoon at Castle Linley, the Howards’ ancestral estate in England, they encounter a whole new host of characters, including the eccentric Lord and Lady Linley and Clive’s mysterious cousin, Wallace. When a man is murdered in the village on the night of a house party at the Castle, Wallace comes under suspicion—and Clive and Henrietta are reluctantly drawn into the case, despite Clive’s anxiety at involving his new bride and Henrietta’s distracting news from home.


Delicately attempting to work together for the first time, Clive and Henrietta set out to prove Wallace’s innocence, uncovering as they do so some rather shocking truths that will shake the Linley name and estate forever.

Grim Reapers. Saving lives. Lessons in love. 

(This book was previously published as When Death Became A Woman.)

For some, it's a fictitious world. But for Debra Stone, it's everyday life. 

After a chance encounter with a man she enjoys throws her down a path she almost can't believe, she struggles to cope with her newfound purpose. 

Saving lives. 

Ushering souls into the afterlife. It can't be real, right? But the men who catch her in the act are real. And their adoration for her is very real. 

The attention they give her is real. The words they whisper in her ears are real. But after running into a man who flips her already twisted world on its head, she questions everything once again.

Can Debra deal with her radically successful business, help others before Death takes them, and still have a love life?

Or will it all come crashing down around her?

Grab a glass of wine, and read Debra’s Paranormal Women's Fiction story. Just be careful when drinking, the laughs can be dangerous!​

Four full-length sensual Regency romances make up this boxed set about four widowers. 

When Isabella believes she has witnessed her mother's murder at the hands of her father in THE DREAM OF A DUCHESS, she rides off to London in search of the man her mother always said she could go to in case of trouble. To keep her safe, Octavius, Duke of Huntington, agrees to hide Isabella in his country estate—and to allow her access to his stables and horses. But what about his heart?

When archaeologist Jasper, Viscount Henley, is caught kissing Marianne, he marries her despite knowing she's nearly blind. Determined to show his new bride the wonders of the Roman world as part of his next expedition—their wedding trip—Jasper will do whatever it takes for her to see more clearly, even if his own vision is clouded by a revelation in THE VISION OF A VISCOUNTESS.

When the headmistress of London’s premiere finishing school dies, her son, Theodore Streater, is desperate to find a replacement. He’s a bank clerk and has no idea how to run a girl’s school. So when Daisy Albright appears to apply for the position, he hires her on the spot—even though he would rather hire her as his mistress. Left with only one arm from the last war, Teddy would prefer to take a wife, but who will marry a one-armed man? A former spy, Daisy has a secret she’d rather her employer not know, especially as she grows more fond of him. When she discovers what Mrs. Streater had already arranged on behalf of the school, though, her future employment and the fate of the school will be at risk in THE CONUNDRUM OF A CLERK.

What is real and what is fiction when it comes to Viscount Marcus Lancaster's life? A widower, he's imagined a life with Charity, a widowed countess, and he's determined to make it become a reality. Never mind that the matchmaker wants nothing to do with marriage. But she does have a secret desire in THE CHARITY OF A VISCOUNT.

A homeless man. Violently strangled. No leads. Except his past.


An outsider himself, DS George Cross is drawn to this case. The discovery of the dead man's connection to an old cold case then pulls Cross in further. Convinced this is where the answer to the murder lies, he sets about solving another that someone has spent the past fifteen years thinking they’ve got away with.

Cross’ relentless obsession with logic, detail and patterns is what makes him so irritatingly brilliant. It doesn’t exactly make him popular with colleagues or his superiors, though. He has numerous enemies in the force wanting to see him fail.

Red flags are soon raised as suspicious inconsistencies and errors in the original detective’s investigation come to light. Now retired, this ex-cop has powerful friends in the force and a long-standing dislike of Cross.

Set in picturesque Bristol in the Southwest of England, it’s not long before the city reveals its dark underbelly, in a case of intriguing twists and turns whose result astonishes even those involved.

Difficult and awkward, maybe. But Cross has the best conviction rate in Avon & Somerset Police. By far. Will this case put an end to that?

She already left one fiancé. She didn’t need another.

When Bree Garrett’s former college roommate invites Bree to move to Starlight Ridge, a small tourist town on the Californian coast, she is all too happy to leave the deserts of New Mexico and the memories of her former life. She only has three conditions:

One- No one can find out about her fear of water—totally embarrassing when you live next to the ocean.

Two- No seafood. She can't stomach it. Yeah, she sees the irony of points number one and two.

Three- No blind dates. The last thing she needs is a relationship. Her ex-fiancé would agree.

Easier said than done when the only job available is at a surf shop and the owner, Caleb, is under the impression that Bree has applied to be a scuba instructor, and not a cashier, as she had intended.

Bree tries to clear up the misunderstanding, but it’s hard when she seems to lose her voice—and her breath—every time Caleb is near. How could she not when he happens to be attractive, single and, as it turns out, also doesn't like seafood?

Bree and Caleb struggle against the pull of the tide that seems determined to bring them together. But, despite their differences, maybe this is one battle that is okay to lose.

Diving into Love is the first book in the Starlight Ridge romance series. If you can’t get enough of witty banter, moonlit strolls on the beach, and swoon-worthy kisses, you’ll love this sweet romance.

Buy Diving into Love and start this small-town romance series today!

"What do you know about the ZOO?"

Born from the fertile imagination of bestselling author Michael Anderle

The former sergeant took in a deep breath, tilting his head as he looked at the man in front of him. 

“Unofficially? It’s a military experiment gone bad, with all the pros and cons that come with it. No official word was shared, of course. This means that I don’t officially know the source of the damn jungle starting to cover the Sahara Desert nicknamed the Zoo comes from some goop that was found on a missile that may or may not have alien origins."

He stopped his explanation a moment and eyed the Retired Colonel in front of him, "Remind me, what is the government’s official stance on aliens again?”

Anderson smirked, "The jury is still out on that one."

Jeremiah Johnson needs a job, and Retired Marine Colonel Anderson needs a man with Johnson's particular skills.

Fast.

It's either a match made in Heaven, or Hell. It all depends on which side of the gun you happen to be standing on.

The safe end, or the business end.

Inside the ZOO isn't the only place people are acting greedy. Doctor Courtney Monroe has taken control of her Dad's legacy - she just needs two men to help make it happen.

Anderson and Savage just might be up to the task.

Go up and click on the 'Read Now' button and enter a knock-down drag-out story where the last man standing is the one who rights the wrongs.

Or at least the one who writes the story in the history books.

Two women quarantined together. A world falling into chaos.

When a virus sweeps across the globe, cities and entire countries shut down overnight. The Fear zooms in on a married couple, Ash and Jack, in one small apartment, growing restless and claustrophobic and paranoid. People are dying in droves. Governments are toppling, imploding, lashing out. Martial law, police states, riots, bioterrorism. No one knows what to believe, who to trust.

As the horror ramps up to apocalyptic levels, Jack is slowly unraveling. She shuts herself away and fears everything. Fears the virus has crawled its way inside, down her throat, into the lining of her stomach. Ash is afraid, too—afraid of what her increasingly erratic wife will do to her.

In a pandemic none of us are ready for, should we fear the outside world . . . or what's waiting within?

The size of a Kodiak bear and covered in tattoos. A heart of gold, a rough and tumble past. Confident, powerful, gentle. Wise. Artistic. Deep wild brown eyes that see far deeper into me than they should.

Nothing in my life could ever have prepared me for the reality that is Ink Isaac. He’s just so much more than anyone I’ve ever met, and my instant, inexplicable, and undeniable attraction to him leaves me reeling.

But with my life recently turned upside down, the more time I spend around him, the more I realize I’m not even sure what my future looks like anymore—alI know for sure is, my heart and my body want him in it, even if my mind is saying something else.

* * *

She's a tiny little thing, all hard edges and sharp wit. All woman, with slender curves and hypnotic eyes. She’s all fire and bravado, and she’s melting my big, bear-sized heart, little by little. I’m utterly hooked. Willing to risk it all for her.

Everything she is seems to demand that I give her everything I am. I'm just not sure if I know how to do that, if she really knows what she’s asking for when she looks up at me with those beautiful, blazing hazel eyes.

She sets me on fire, but are either of us ready for what that fire will do to both of us?

Occasionally, the unexpected happens, and we are left to deal with the loss of a loved one. We never know what tomorrow brings, and with that comes the uncertainty of what's to come. When the passing of the loved one occurs, it can be devastating and leave you feeling lost, alone, and afraid. So, let me offer this book to those experiencing this type of circumstance in their life.
"The Hardest Goodbye" (Coping With A Loss) is about dealing with losing someone we care for and finding a way to cope.

"I love the Callaways! Heartwarming romance, intriguing suspense and sexy alpha heroes. What more could you want?" – NYT Bestselling Author Bella Andre

Reid Becker was the best of the best, an elite soldier whose career ended abruptly in a mission gone awry. Derailed after a decade of intense focus, Reid is spending far too much time in his best friend's bar. Then Shayla Callaway walks into his life with a desperate plea for help. How can he resist a beautiful blonde?

The last thing Shayla Callaway was looking for was trouble. After years of medical school, she is months away from finishing her residency when a stint with a research team lands her in the middle of a game of drugs and money, and the only person who can help her is a burned-out ex-soldier with a hot body and a cocky attitude.

Reid and Shayla have always put duty and career first. But as the danger heats up, so do the summer nights. Suddenly, it's not just about saving the world but about saving each other and a love they never expected…

What the reviewers are saying…

"THAT SUMMER NIGHT is another huge hit in the Callaway's Series. I can't recommend this series enough. I love all the twist and turns and the romance is always a treat. Read this series, I promise you won't be disappointed." Caroline

"If you want a great read and a family to fall in love with this is the series you want to get." Amazon Reviewer

"I was enthralled and drawn into the personal struggles of Shayla and Reid as they figure out what they both need and want out of life. Another awesome book in this most wonderful series on the dynamic family, The Callaways. A must read for everyone either as part of the series you adore or a stand-alone story." Charlene

"Barbara gives us a fantastically written story of love and family. I think that's what I love about this series so much is the family values and closeness that is written wonderfully within each individual story." Yvonne

Magic is the key... but will it save them, or consume them?

For Natalia, there is no choice.

Trained as a battle mage, she has the potential to be the most powerful spellcaster the family has ever produced.

Yet their price is too high!

While Athgar's life is about to change forever. 

On the day his village is burned to the ground, his magical potential is released by the very fire that nearly consumed him.

He is driven by revenge until he learns he may not be the only survivor!

Now, she is on the run from her family, while he desperately hunts for his!

Together, they journey across the continent, searching for clues of a conspiracy that has remained secret for years.

Will their enemies destroy them before they discover the truth?

Discover a land infused with magic and mystery as Paul J Bennett's newest series, The Frozen Flame, begins in Ashes.

Curl up with your copy of Ashes, and enjoy a spellbinding tale today!

She’s a sexy gamer in danger. He’s a bodyguard with a secret.
Ex-Army Texas boy Owen Harding fears only one thing—his inner beast. A year in Agent Smith’s experimental cages has changed his wolf into something monstrous. But a hate group is hunting the Wilding pack, so Owen’s serving again, this time as bodyguard. If only the girl he’s protecting wasn’t so damn sexy… and completely off limits.

Nova Wilding’s father was assassinated, leaving her a gaming company to run, a new game to release, and a pack full of wolves who want her for a mate… including a beta who’s determined to have Nova and her company. When a bomb goes off in her car, Nova finds herself in her sexy bodyguard’s arms… but he’s absolutely the wrong man at the wrong time.

While Nova fights to keep her gaming company afloat, and Owen fights to keep her alive, the hate group circles closer and closer… until they both find that falling in love might be the most dangerous game of all.

WILD GAME is a complete novel with HEA, the first in the Wilding Pack Wolves series. All stories are standalone, but for maximum reader enjoyment, start with the River Pack Wolves trilogy.

Contains scorching hot shifters, alpha military heroes, and sexy female gamers. Only readers over 18 should dive into the dangerously hot world of the Wilding Pack Wolves.

Ford Atticus Ford, former host of the hit ghost-hunting reality show Graveyard: Classified, has more than a few regrets—especially after young Chelsea Hopper was attacked by a demon...on live television. 

Assisting police departments by conducting paranormal investigations and uncovering buried clues now provides Ford with an ounce of redemption, but it will never be enough. What occurred on that long-ago Halloween night was unforgivable, and Ford, chasing ratings and stardom, let it happen.

With Graveyard cancelled and his reputation destroyed, Ford sets out to avenge little Chelsea, and to save his own soul—if he can.

“An exquisite novel.” Martha Conway, author of Thieving Forest
B.R.A.G. Medallion Honoree
A Renaissance-era female artist and an American scholar. Linked by a 500-year-old mystery…
The secrets of the past are irresistible—and dangerous.

1500: Born during a time wracked by war and plague, Renaissance-era artist Mira grows up in a Pyrenees convent believing she is an orphan. When tragedy strikes, Mira learns the devastating truth about her own origins. But does she have the strength to face those who would destroy her?

2015: Centuries later, art scholar Zari unearths traces of a mysterious young woman named Mira in two 16th-century portraits. Obsessed, Zari tracks Mira through the great cities of Europe to the pilgrim’s route of Camino de Santiago—and is stunned by what she finds. Will her discovery be enough to bring Mira’s story to life?

A powerful story and an intriguing mystery, The Girl from Oto is an unforgettable novel of obsession, passion, and human resilience.

Perfect for fans of Kristin Hannah and Anthony Doerr.